Syrian government forces have regained control of a military airbase on the eastern outskirts of Damascus, activists and military sources say.

Rebel forces seized the airbase, in the Ghouta agricultural belt around the capital, in November 2012.

Its capture is a rare victory for the government in an area considered an opposition stronghold. The army was backed by fighters from Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, it added.

On Sunday, at least 45 people were killed as government forces bombarded the nearby rebel-held suburbs of Douma, Saqba, Arbeen and Harasta, according to the Syrian Observatory and the opposition Local Co-ordination Committees.

The attacks came after rebel shellfire killed six people, including two children, in government-held areas in and around Damascus, foreign media reports.